Talk:Show, don't tell/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Show, don't tell. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

January 2007

Considering the subjective nature of writing, it seems that this article might benefit from tweaking so as to make it more neutral.--Infiniteseries 06:48, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Examples unencycolpedic

WP is not a how-to manual Eleland 01:03, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

Including examples of a concept an article describes doesn't make an article a how-to manual. The examples add to the article by showing exactly what "show" as opposed to "tell" looks like. —Signed, your friendly neighborhood MessedRocker. 21:18, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

As a writer, I found this article accurate and the examples helpful. Greybeard2ca (talk) 16:20, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Applicability to non-fiction?

I was led to this article via Wikipedia:Avoid_peacock_terms and was surprised to see that it only addresses the applicability of the "show, don't tell" phrase to fiction. The phrase is used in the context of non-fiction writing, typically in order to admonish writers to state facts rather than to state facts (or opinions) about facts. Case in point, is use in the above-referenced peacock term article. Not being one schooled on such subject matter, however, I have some trepidation about editing this article to incorporate the non-fiction angle. SixSix (talk) 13:21, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Hear, hear. —Tamfang (talk) 02:12, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Very, very true. This lacks a section on how it applies to film, theater, and as you said, non-fiction like journalism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Louis Corsair (talk • contribs) 17:48, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

I seem to be unable to edit, though I do not suggest much of a change: The article currently says, "The technique applies equally to fiction and nonfiction. The concept is not just literary: It also applies to speech, movie making and playwriting." I do think we should stick to the distinction between fiction and nonfiction only, and not use words like "writers" and "readers" in the first paragraph, whose final sentence could instead be: "The technique applies equally to nonfiction and all forms of fiction, including literature, speech, movie making and playwriting." ... and from there we could move on to more specific examples, like Hemingway. 77.105.196.184 (talk) 10:29, 14 December 2013 (UTC)